Dean Frieders
Dean Frieders
Chief Solutions Officer
Get to Know Dean Frieders
Contracts and regulations are written by lawyers, who then charge you by the minute to explain them--it's not fair. I became a lawyer because my family learned firsthand what happens when you don't get good legal advice. Our family farm, pictured here, was sold to pay the inheritance taxes when my great grandparents died--an avoidable tragedy. I learned the law to help clients who, like me, don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but who do need periodic help to make informed, practical decisions.
A New Approach to Occupational Health
I've worked to transform every organization I've been a part of. I've worked to introduce innovation, efficiency and understanding. I've now joined the Work Health Solutions team as Chief Solutions Officer. I bring my legal acumen, my scholastic experience teaching negotiation and conflict resolution, my background in mobile/emergency healthcare and my nuanced understanding of client needs to develop customized, concierge-style solutions, tailored to our clients' needs.
A Collaborative Approach
Our leadership team at Work Health Solutions brings a diverse range of experience to each and every engagement. We understand our clients' challenges and their unique opportunities. Each of us started in the position our clients are now in--needing professional services and not finding the solutions that our situations demanded. We formed Work Health Solutions to provide our clients with the occupational health solutions that they deserve.
Uniquely Experienced
Worked as a City Manager, City Attorney, Risk Manager, Public Works employee, Firefighter/EMT and many other hands-on roles that inform my perspective.
Recognized by Superlawyers and the Leading Lawyers Network as being in the top 2% of attorneys in my field for 10 years in a row.
Author of Foundations of Sustainable Development, a book published by the American Bar Association.
Author of Managing Public Construction Projects, a how-to guide for practitioners looking to undertake significant public infrastructure projects.
Negotiated and drafted annexation and development agreements for tens of thousands of acres of new commercial, industrial and residential development.
Developed new financing mechanisms for public/private partnerships, leveraging TIF funding, private borrowing and governmental mortgages to enable transformative redevelopment of blighted properties.
Professor of Leadership, Ethics and Values, teaching Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Mediation.
Former Volunteer Firefighter and EMT.
Former Legal Advisor to the Kane County Chiefs of Police Association, Major Crimes Task Force, Use of Force Task Force.
Former Special Assistant State's Attorney, appointed to represent the government in complex litigation.
Defended $23,700,000 in public bonds from IRS audit, and devised new financing methodology for public/private partnerships on multi-million dollar mixed-use developments.
TEDx Talk lecturer on the challenges of over-reliance on legalese and the need to focus on practical considerations.
Frequent lecturer and published author on issues relating to business law, government law, real property development and contract related issues.
Raised on a farm, I've worked as a carpenter, a grocery store worker, a truck-driver, a car salesman, and a host of other jobs. I have a practical approach to the law.
